The benefits of chemistry in human life briefly. The importance of chemistry in society

“Life is a series of chemical reactions,” no matter how excessive this statement may seem, it clearly shows how significant the role of chemistry is in the modern world. Often, chemistry lessons at school are perceived as a duty, since students do not always understand why they need to study this subject and how it will be useful in later life.

The relevance of chemistry lessons is manifested on two levels:
Obvious— the acquired knowledge is necessary for admission to a higher educational institution.
Household— information received from a school chemistry course will help you be competent in a number of life situations.

Children studying in boarding schools have the opportunity to dive deeper into the study of program subjects and more effectively use the knowledge gained. Especially when it comes to specialized boarding schools with in-depth study of certain disciplines. But general education institutions also provide an excellent basis on which the student can obtain a good specialty.

Let's consider the first aspect - admission to a higher educational institution.

Despite the fact that studying in boarding schools for orphans provides some benefits upon admission, in the future they will need a full set of basic knowledge in order to effectively master the program of a higher educational institution. Chemistry is a rather complex discipline that requires a child to have such skills as the ability to concentrate, think analytically, holistically perceive the phenomenon being studied, independently draw conclusions, and take responsibility for the safety of others. At the same time, chemistry should become a favorite subject for those who want to realize themselves in the following specialties:

Chemist

As long as people strive to transform the world, chemists will be needed by humanity. This branch of knowledge is currently the most significant for the development of civilization! This means that every person has the opportunity to make their contribution to its development.

Medical worker

Medicine is always in demand. A good doctor will never be left without work and will never feel a sense of uselessness. It is always useful to people, because it helps maintain health and saves people’s lives. Even a nurse, who does not have to take responsibility for making a diagnosis and drawing up a treatment plan, must understand what is hidden behind the composition of tablets, mixtures, and injections. Without knowledge of chemistry, a doctor will not be able to select a good treatment, write a prescription for medications, make competent recommendations for their use, or offer alternative methods of treatment using traditional medicine. After all, all drugs interact with each other and can suppress the healing properties or, conversely, make their effect excessive.

Chemistry lessons are even more important for future pharmacists who invent new medicines, formulate medicinal powders and ointments, and help choose the cheapest but most effective analogues of various drugs.

Veterinarian, zoologist, biologist, agronomist, gardener

Flora and fauna delight almost every inquisitive child. Trees, herbs, flowers delight us with their beauty and bring benefits. If they did not exist, people would not be able to create books, sew clothes, or compile medicinal collections. The animal world is also striking in its diversity. Chemistry is relevant for each of these professions.

Ecologist

Nature is an endless source of vitality for any person. Wise people strive to live in harmony with it, so the world always needs professional ecologists who help people cooperate with nature and cause minimal harm to it.

Builder, graphic designer, artist

Construction is also an industry that will always be in demand. After all, people need somewhere to live, something to sit on, something to sleep. Knowledge of chemistry allows you to correctly calculate the proportions when preparing a concrete mixture - a necessary element for building a house. Determining the necessary time frame required for the final hardening of the foundation will also be difficult without understanding the specifics of the various chemical reactions.

Even artists, who are perceived by many as detached observers, must master basic chemical concepts about the interaction of substances! Otherwise, they simply will not be able to mix paints correctly and fix them on the canvas. A graphic designer is also required to have an understanding of chemical processes, especially their impact on human health - after all, not only the beauty of a living space, but also the quality of people’s lives depends on his work! He must be able to choose the right material for finishing so that the family living in the apartment does not develop chronic diseases and allergic reactions.

Food industry technologist

The products that we purchase in stores have a long shelf life for one simple reason - the food industry uses knowledge of organic and inorganic chemistry, with the help of which it is possible to extend the shelf life of various foods. Flavoring additives, sugar substitutes, candies, chips, lemonades - most of the delicacies that delight us so much would have been impossible if people had not created such a science as chemistry.

Technologists

Since ancient times, people have used natural dyes to dye clothes made from natural substances in bright colors. The coloring process is a normal chemical reaction that can be predicted. Thanks to light industry technologists, we have the opportunity to look so bright and use so many synthetic materials to create clothes!

Experienced technologists with a good knowledge of chemistry are needed to create cosmetics and perfumes. They are developing methods for processing minerals, developing new types of plastics used to create cases for laptops, tablets, and household items. They create materials for the military industry, space industry, and medicine.

Expert criminalist

Forensic scientists who have to investigate serious crimes are required to have broad knowledge of chemistry, biology, psychology, physics and a number of other sciences. The famous literary detective Sherlock Holmes successfully solved many crimes because he was knowledgeable in chemistry!

And this is not a complete list of specialties for which knowledge of chemistry is necessary. The learning process is difficult for many children precisely because they do not understand where in practice they can apply the acquired knowledge. In addition, children have a natural question: “I don’t want to develop in specialties related to chemistry. Why should I teach her?

There are two succinct answers to such a statement. The first is that if you do not obtain at least basic knowledge of chemistry, then in the future many development roads will be closed. In addition, interest in some field of activity can awaken spontaneously. The second answer is somewhat more mundane - chemistry is needed in everyday life.

Application of chemistry knowledge in everyday life

It should be noted that for children studying in a boarding school, it is this everyday reason for studying chemistry that is the most significant. Especially if children are deprived of parental care and are forced to independently find their place in life. Basic information gleaned from chemistry lessons will help them in solving the simplest problems. Therefore, when teaching a lesson, I try to show the purpose of the knowledge being acquired.

For example, when learning about the class of acids, the children were unable to name which acids could be found in their kitchen. Therefore, when talking about acids, I focus on their use in everyday life: how you can use acetic and citric acids, where this knowledge will be useful to them.

I also involve the students themselves in this kind of work. For example, when studying the topic “Phenol,” I talk about the negative effects of phenol-formaldehyde resins. Please note that most modern furniture is made from chipboard containing harmful substances. I suggest students find ways to protect themselves from harmful influences. I invite students to work on the “My Home” project. Children prepare for their future life, make plans, purpose and interest appear.

Let's go through the topic "Alcohols". I show the children a presentation. Unfortunately, the guys have quite a lot of such everyday experience. And if they laugh at the first shots, then by the end of the presentation the class becomes quiet. I will definitely conduct a seminar on the topic “Alcohols”. The guys are looking for information, talking about the negative effects of alcohol on the human body. As the Chinese proverb says, “I heard - I forgot, I saw - I remembered, I did - I understood.”

When studying the topic “Enzymes”, we consider the composition of washing powders, learn how to wash clothes correctly, and at the same time repeat the topic “Water Hardness”. Knowledge supported by practice remains for a long time.

When studying nucleic acids, we always talk in detail about biotechnology and genetic engineering; I introduce them to products containing genetically modified components. The guys write essays about the future of humanity.

The guys are interested in what concerns them personally, in particular, they are very interested in health issues. We are going through the topic “Vitamins”. The guys take notes and apply the acquired knowledge to themselves.

Purchasing washing powder and choosing washing temperatures for clothes made from different fabrics. Selection of cosmetics with minimal chemical content. Cleaning silver jewelry, protecting metal products from water. Methods of water purification using various natural materials. Creating fun magic tricks using various chemicals (activated carbon, ammonia, tea, yeast). Making homemade ice cream... - ordinary children learn all this and much more thanks to the life experience of their parents. Orphans raised in boarding schools are deprived of this everyday knowledge! Therefore, it is so important that they have the opportunity to study chemistry in depth in class.

Students absorb the basics of chemical science, which will subsequently allow them to navigate well in everyday life and not commit rash actions! After all, knowledge of how to neutralize a chemical burn can save a person’s health, or even life! Where else can a child get them, if not in chemistry lessons?

It’s boring to study only what comes in isolation from our own lives. Even an adult cannot always force himself to learn something that seems useless and boring to him. What can be demanded from a schoolchild who is in the difficult period of adolescence and has not yet decided on the main questions: “Who am I, what do I want from life”? Therefore, when studying chemistry, it is important to prove its relevance - to arouse interest.

High school students in chemistry classes prepare to enter adult life and realize themselves in a certain profession. The relevance of studying chemistry in this context is absolutely undeniable! After all, almost every activity of modern people is related to chemistry. Even the formation of falling in love is subject to the laws of this science. Chemistry is a life worth learning!

Kuzmenko Elena Anatolyevna
State budgetary educational institution boarding school No. 24
Saint Petersburg
Chemistry teacher

Municipal budgetary educational institution

"Gymnasium No. 16"

On this topic:
"The role of chemistry in human life"

2011
Introduction

To solve many problems, you can use one of the most important branches of science and natural history - chemical science. Modern chemistry is developing at a rapid pace, fruitfully collaborating with physics, mathematics, biology and other sciences. The role of chemistry in the life and development of society is very great. Chemistry is very closely related to the production of material assets. Natural science, including chemical science, starting with long-known provisions and laws, and ending with modern complex theories, is interconnected with philosophy.
The colossal achievements of chemical practice are significantly and visibly noticeable in our everyday life. Now it is almost unthinkable to stop on this path or go back, refusing to use the knowledge about the world around us that humanity already possesses.

1. Chemistry in our daily life

Everywhere we turn our eyes, we are surrounded by objects and products made from substances and materials obtained in chemical plants and factories. In addition, in everyday life, without knowing it, every person carries out chemical reactions. For example, washing with soap, washing with detergents, etc. When a piece of lemon is dropped into a glass of hot tea, the color weakens - the tea here acts as an acid indicator. A similar acid-base interaction occurs when chopped blue cabbage is soaked in vinegar. Housewives know that cabbage turns pink. By lighting a match, mixing sand and cement with water, or extinguishing lime with water, or burning a brick, we carry out real and sometimes quite complex chemical reactions. Explaining these and other widespread chemical processes in human life is the job of specialists.
Cooking is also a chemical process. It’s not for nothing that they say that women chemists are often very good cooks. Indeed, cooking in the kitchen can sometimes feel like performing organic synthesis in a laboratory. Only instead of flasks and retorts in the kitchen they use pots and pans, and sometimes even autoclaves in the form of pressure cookers. There is no need to further list the chemical processes that a person carries out in everyday life. It is only necessary to note that in any living organism various chemical reactions take place in huge quantities. The processes of assimilation of food, breathing of animals and humans are based on chemical reactions. The growth of a small blade of grass and a mighty tree is also based on chemical reactions.
Chemistry is a science, an important part of natural science. Strictly speaking, science cannot surround a person. He may be surrounded by the results of the practical application of science. This clarification is very significant. Nowadays, you can often hear the words: “chemistry has spoiled nature,” “chemistry has polluted the reservoir and made it unsuitable for use,” etc. In fact, the science of chemistry has nothing to do with it at all. People, using the results of science, poorly incorporated them into a technological process, treated the requirements of safety rules and environmentally acceptable standards for industrial discharges irresponsibly, ineptly and excessively used fertilizers on agricultural land and plant protection products from weeds and plant pests. Any science, especially natural science, cannot be good or bad. Science is the accumulation and systematization of knowledge. How and for what purposes this knowledge is used is another matter. However, this already depends on the culture, qualifications, moral responsibility and morality of people who do not obtain, but use knowledge.

2. Chemical industry

The chemical industry is a complex industry that, along with mechanical engineering, determines the level of scientific and technological progress, providing all sectors of the national economy with chemical technologies and materials, including new, progressive ones, and producing consumer goods.
The chemical industry unites many specialized industries, heterogeneous in raw materials and purpose of products, but similar in production technology.
The modern chemical industry in Russia includes the following sectors.
Chemical industry sectors:

- production of medicinal substances and preparations;
- production of chemical plant protection products.
7. production of household chemical goods;

8. microbiological industry.

Economic regions of the country in which the largest chemical industry complexes have developed:
Central region - polymer chemistry (production of plastics and products made from them, synthetic rubber, tires and rubber products, chemical fiber), production of dyes and varnishes, nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, sulfuric acid;
Ural region - production of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, soda, sulfur, sulfuric acid, polymer chemistry (production of synthetic alcohol, synthetic rubber, plastics from oil and associated gases);
North-Western region - production of phosphate fertilizers, sulfuric acid, polymer chemistry (production of synthetic resins, plastics, chemical fiber);
Volga region – petrochemical production (organic synthesis), production of polymer products (synthetic rubber, chemical fiber);
North Caucasus – production of nitrogen fertilizers, organic synthesis, synthetic resins and plastics;
Siberia (Western and Eastern) - chemistry of organic synthesis, nitrogen industry using coke oven gas, production of polymer chemistry (plastics, chemical fiber, synthetic rubber), tire production.

3. Chemistry and human health

A living cell is a real kingdom of large and small molecules that continuously interact, form and disintegrate... About 100,000 processes take place in the human body, each of them representing a combination of various chemical transformations. Approximately 2,000 reactions can occur in one cell of the body. All these processes are carried out using a relatively small number of connections. Most diseases are caused by deviations in the concentrations of some substance from the norm. This is due to the fact that a huge number of chemical transformations inside a living cell occur in several stages, and many substances are not important to the cell in themselves, they are only intermediaries in a chain of complex reactions; but, if some link is broken, then the entire chain as a result often ceases to fulfill its transfer function; the normal work of the cell in the synthesis of necessary substances stops.
Pharmacology is the science of drugs, the effects of various chemical compounds on living organisms, methods of introducing drugs into organisms, and the interaction of drugs with each other. Molecular pharmacology studies the behavior of drug molecules inside a cell, the transport of these molecules across membranes, etc. Man began to use medicinal substances a very long time ago, several thousand years ago. Ancient medicine was based almost entirely on medicinal plants, an approach that has retained its appeal to this day. Many modern medicines contain substances of plant origin or chemically synthesized compounds identical to those that can be found in medicinal plants. One of the earliest treatises on medicines that has come down to us was written by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates in the 4th century BC.

4. Chemistry and problems of food and ecology

The population of our planet is growing. According to United Nations forecasts, by 2050. it will be about 7 billion people and will naturally increase in the coming decades. This means that it is now necessary to think about how to provide the world’s population with food in the future. Scientists' calculations lead to the conclusion that the problem will be solved if over the next 40 - 50 years, global food production increases 3 - 4 times. Such an increase can only be achieved if a “green revolution” occurs - a sharp rise in agriculture, primarily in developing countries, based on the implementation of all achievements
modern science, including chemistry.
Is there any reason to believe in the possibility of such a “green revolution”? Scientists answer this question definitely: yes, it is possible. Modernized agriculture, with the help of its powerful allies - chemistry and biology - can easily feed more than 7 billion people.
In solving the food problem on a global scale, the main emphasis is on increasing the production of plant and animal foods of natural origin. An increase in the volume of natural food production, according to experts, will be achieved in the near future by creating favorable conditions for the reproduction and growth of plants and animals. This includes, first of all, the use of fertilizers, and then growth stimulants, artificial feed for farm animals, plant and animal protection products, the introduction of new products obtained from the ocean, etc.
Large crop losses are associated with pests and diseases of agricultural plants. About one third of the crop perishes. If we stop using chemical plant protection products, this share will double. For 3 thousand species of cultivated plants, about 30 thousand pathogens are known! Of these, more than 25 thousand are fungi, about 600 are nematodes (worms), more than 200 are bacteria, about 300 are viruses.
As a result of plant diseases, people lose 10 - 15% of the crop even before it is harvested. The combined impact of diseases, pests and weeds takes away from the harvest from 25 to 40%. The figure is not small, but that’s not all. From 5 to 25% of agricultural products are lost during transportation and storage. As a result, the total losses of the crop before it reaches the consumer are about 40 to 50% in different countries. There is something to think about for specialists in the fight against pests and diseases of agricultural crops.
In livestock farming, artificial feed produced in special factories is becoming increasingly important. To increase weight, livestock must be supplied with raw materials in residual quantities. This could be vegetable protein, fish meal, etc. However, with the expansion of livestock farming and an increase in demand for its products, these protein sources may not be enough, so chemists, together with biologists, have long begun to look for ways to replace such feed. And good substitutes for natural feed have been invented.
Scientific and technological progress, which gives people many benefits, also has a negative impact on the surrounding nature.
In industrialized countries, up to 150-200 kg of dust, ash and other industrial emissions enter the atmosphere annually per inhabitant. Every day, industry around the world discharges more than 100 million cubic meters of wastewater.
All types of transport powered by heat engines are a powerful source of air pollution. The substances they emit are generally identical to gaseous wastes of industrial origin. With vehicle exhaust gases, oxides of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, aldehydes, unburned hydrocarbons, as well as products containing chlorine, boron, phosphorus and lead enter the air. Diesel engines of automobile, water and railway transport pollute the atmosphere.
The products of petrochemical enterprises and crude oil transported by tankers have a harmful effect on the hydrosphere. Studies of the Atlantic Ocean and shelf waters of Europe and North America show that the level of pollution in the open ocean is 2-3 times less than in coastal waters, where the oil film lasts longer. 1 ton of oil is capable of covering the surface of a body of water with an area of 1200 hectares with a thin film.
In addition, various industries use a huge number of new compounds that do not exist in nature. More than 250 thousand of them are synthesized in the world every year, about 300 of which are used industrially and can end up in the environment. According to the World Health Organization, among the chemical compounds used on an industrial scale, approximately 40 thousand are harmful to humans. The process of environmental pollution with substances unusual for it, which previously had a local character, has recently assumed a global scale. Especially pollution of the environment with elements unusual for the biosphere, such as lead, mercury, cadmium. The power of technogenic impact on living nature has reached such a magnitude that there is a danger of irreversible changes due to the disruption of the natural dynamic equilibrium that has developed over millions of years. Even the pollution of the environment with substances characteristic of natural cycles, such as nitrates, ammonium salts, phosphates, has reached concentrations in large areas of the earth's surface at which natural mechanisms are insufficient for the smooth inclusion of these substances in the cycle. As a result, for example, in many large bodies of water around the globe there has been a sharp change in ecosystems, which has led to a great depletion of species of living organisms.
What way out does science, in particular chemistry, see from the current environmental crisis? After all, the chemicalization of industrial and agricultural production does not mean the destruction of all living things, but, on the contrary, offers ways to solve the problems of our time. First everything
etc.................

Introduction

The role of chemistry in modern life is very clearly defined: chemistry is energy, heat, household chemicals.

Chemistry as a science and at the same time as an area of application of knowledge is very impressive. Without the use of chemical technologies, material production is impossible. New materials are constantly entering our lives. For many centuries, chemistry developed as alchemy - the search for the philosopher's stone. Nowadays it is one of the most fundamental sciences about substances and their properties, without which life itself is impossible.

Chemistry as a component of culture fills with content a number of fundamental ideas about the world, the connection between the structure and properties of a complex system, probabilistic ideas and ideas about symmetry, chaos and order; conservation laws; unity of discrete and continuous; the evolution of matter - all this finds visual expression on the factual material of chemistry, provides food for thought about the world around us, for the harmonious development of the individual.

The role of chemistry in human life

Everywhere, wherever we turn our gaze, we are surrounded by objects and products made from substances and materials obtained in chemical plants and factories. In addition, in everyday life, without knowing it, every person carries out chemical reactions. For example, washing with soap, washing with detergents, etc. When a piece of lemon is dropped into a glass of hot tea, the color weakens - tea here acts as an acid indicator, similar to litmus. A similar acid-base interaction occurs when chopped blue cabbage is soaked in vinegar. Housewives know that cabbage turns pink. By lighting a match, mixing sand and cement with water, or extinguishing lime with water, or burning a brick, we carry out real and sometimes quite complex chemical reactions. Explaining these and other widespread chemical processes in human life is the job of specialists.

Cooking is also a chemical process. It’s not for nothing that they say that women chemists are often very good cooks. Indeed, cooking in the kitchen can sometimes feel like performing organic synthesis in a laboratory. Only instead of flasks and retorts in the kitchen they use pots and pans, but sometimes also autoclaves in the form of pressure cookers. There is no need to further list the chemical processes that a person carries out in everyday life. It is only necessary to note that in any living organism various chemical reactions take place in huge quantities. The processes of assimilation of food, breathing of animals and humans are based on chemical reactions. The growth of a small blade of grass and a mighty tree is also based on chemical reactions.

Chemistry is a science, an important part of natural science. Strictly speaking, science cannot surround a person. He may be surrounded by the results of the practical application of science. This clarification is very significant. Nowadays you can often hear the words: “chemistry has ruined nature”, “chemistry

Water on a planetary scale

Humanity has long paid great attention to water, since it was well known that where there is no water, there is no life. In dry soil, grain can lie for many years and germinate only in the presence of moisture. Despite the fact that water is the most abundant substance, it is distributed very unevenly on Earth. On the African continent and Asia there are vast areas devoid of water - deserts. An entire country – Algeria – lives on imported water. Water is delivered by ship to some coastal areas and islands of Greece. Sometimes water costs more than wine there. According to the United Nations, in 1985, 2.5 billion of the world's population lacked clean drinking water.

The surface of the globe is 3/4 covered with water - these are oceans, seas; lakes, glaciers. Water is found in fairly large quantities in the atmosphere, as well as in the earth's crust. The total reserves of free water on Earth are 1.4 billion km3. The main amount of water is contained in the oceans (about 97.6%), with 2.14% of water on our planet in the form of ice. Water from rivers and lakes makes up only 0.29% and atmospheric water – 0.0005%.

Water is in a constant and active cycle. Its driving force is the Sun, and its main source of water is the World Ocean. Almost a quarter of all solar energy falling on the Earth is spent on the evaporation of water from the surfaces of reservoirs. Every year, 511 thousand km3 of water rises into the atmosphere in this way, of which 411 thousand km3 comes from the surface of the ocean. Approximately 2/3 of atmospheric water returns as precipitation back to the ocean, and 1/3 falls on land. Annual precipitation is 40 times higher than the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. If they fell immediately, they could form a layer 1 m thick on the Earth. This water replenishes glaciers, rivers and lakes. In turn, continental surface waters again flow into the seas and oceans, dissolving the existing